A Date on Mount St Helen
by WhiteravenGreywolf
Summary: Zari finally gets the chance to see the eruption of Mount St Helen, and she asks Charlie to come with her. It's a date. Right? Is it? Charlie isn't so sure herself. Zarlie fluff.


A/N: Hi guys! Just a quick little story for all you Zarlie fans out there! I finally bought the DVD of Season 3, finally got aroung to rewatching it, and it got me wondering whether Zari ever had the chance to see the eruption of Mount St Helen (the joke is from the episode No Country for Old Dad, in case you were wondering). I'm currently working on three stories for three different fandoms, including Legends of Tomorrow (it's a challenge for myself, if you will), so you can definitely expect more Zarlie and Avalance and DarhkAdom very soon! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one!

* * *

**A Date on Mount St Helen**

Charlie was entering the galley for breakfast when she heard Zari and Sara arguing. At first, she didn't pay them any mind. It wasn't angry shouting, just an argument between the Captain and one of her teammates. She poured herself a cup of coffee and went on to prepare her breakfast. However, her sleepy mind perked up when she heard the word 'volcano' being pronounced. She turned toward the table where Sara was seating, her breakfast all but forgotten.

"Wait, wait, what's this about a volcano?"

Both Zari and Sara looked up at her.

"Zari wants to go to 1980 to see the eruption of Mount St Helen," Sara explained.

She then turned back to Zari.

"And I've already said no four times! What do you not understand in no?"

Zari frowned.

"Wait? Four times? Are you sure? I can remember only three..."

Both Zari and Sara's expressions shifted to reflexion, as they reminisced about the four previous times.

"The first time I asked," Zari started, "Ava was here, so I retracted. The second time was an off-handed comment, third time..."

"Third time I just said no," Sara continued, "and fourth time I told you it was way too dangerous, even if you only took the jumpship."

"Which leads me to now. I ran a few simulations with Gideon's help and I know exactly where to place the jumpship to have a good view of the eruption and be out of the cloud's area."

Sara rolled her eyes but called out anyway:

"Gideon?"

"Should Miss Tomaz follow the simulation's precise calculations, there is a hundred percent chance she'll be safe and sound."

Zari crossed her arms and smirked. Charlie pretended not to stare.

"See? I'll be fine. It's perfectly safe. Plus, why does everyone else gets to indulge in time travel except me?"

Sara finished her cup of coffee and shook her head.

"We don't indulge ourselves?"

"Oh yeah? Setting aside all the souvenirs in everyone's rooms, Amaya got to become the most famous pirate in History, Ray was knighted by Queen Guinevere, John and Charlie broke time at least twenty times in less than a week! You slept with the Queen of France! Do I need to continue?"

Sara let out a groan, then a sigh. Apparently, she'd forgotten about the Queen of France. And now Charlie really wanted to know what this was all about.

"Fine! But it's at your own risk!"

Zari fist-pumped and let out a victory cry:

"Yes! Thank you!"

She walked back to the kitchen to prepare her own breakfast. As she danced around Charlie, the shape-shifter turned to Sara with a smirk of her own.

"So what's this about you sleeping with the Queen of France?"

Sara shook her head and stood up.

"Yeah, no, I'm not telling you about this."

She placed her cup in the sink for Ray to wash later.

"Who even told you about this?"

Zari shrugged.

"Ray told me."

Sara sighed and walked out. Charlie was about to focus on making her breakfast once again when Zari asked:

"So, do you want to come with?"

Charlie stared at Zari in confusion.

"What?"

"To see the eruption?"

Charlie shrugged. Sure, seeing a volcanic eruption from a safe distance sounded cool, but she didn't understand why Zari would invite her along.

"Why?"

"I don't know. You seemed interested."

Their eyes met and Charlie pretended to be enraptured with the content of her cup to look away. Stupid Zari and her stupid, beautiful face!

"It's fine if you don't want to, I'll just..."

Before Zari's voice could die down into a flurry of mumbles, Charlie cut her off:

"Sure, I'll come. Sounds neat."

Zari smiled and Charlie purposefully ignored the flutter in her chest.

"Great. I still have a few preparations to make in the jumpship. If we don't get called for a mission we'll go this afternoon, alright?"

Charlie nodded and declared absentmindedly:

"It's a date."

* * *

With no mission in sight and only time to kill, Charlie decided to indulge in her favorite activity: bothering the Legends. Since Zari was out of the question, she decided to start with the next best thing, John. She found him meditating – with clothes on, thankfully – in the library.

"Hey, mate!"

She jumped in the couch and laid there, looking down at the warlock. He cracked an eye open and looked back at her.

"Well someone's chipper today."

Charlie smirked.

"Why wouldn't I be? No mission, no fugitive to capture, no time to save, and Zari is taking me to 1980 this afternoon to see a goddamn volcanic eruption. It's a good day!"

John finally opened both eyes and smirked.

"Oh oh, so Zari's finally taking you on a date, hey?"

Charlie frowned and something tugged at her heart.

"What are you talking about? It's not a date!"

"Oh, are you sure about that, luv? Sounds kind of romantic to me."

She thought for a second. It couldn't be a date. Volcanic eruptions weren't romantic, right?

"It's not a date," she assured.

"Sounds like a date to me. A good chance to get you alone, at the very least."

Charlie glared at him and he closed his eyes once again. She stayed there, desperately trying to ignore John's comments. It wasn't a date. It wasn't. It couldn't be. Stupid John always reading too much into things. Now her good day was ruined.

* * *

After that, she'd lost all interest in bothering anyone else. By midday, she'd mulled over the question enough to convince herself that it wasn't a date. She went to the galley for lunch and found Ray making himself a salad, Mick eating a sandwich and Zari by the food fabricator.

"Oh, Charlie. I'm almost done with the prep. Just come meet me at the jumpship when you're done."

"Sure."

Zari grabbed what looked like half a dozen bags of snacks from the fabricator and left the galley. Charlie didn't give it a second thought and went to the fabricator herself. Beside her, Ray declared with his usual smile:

"Zari told me you guys were going to see the eruption of Mount St Helen. It's pretty cool! I've always wanted to see a volcanic eruption from up close."

"Why don't you come with us, then?" Charlie suggested.

In hindsight, she was rather surprised that Zari hadn't invited Ray as well. The dorky scientist seemed torn for a second before he declared hesitantly:

"No, I'll pass. You guys have fun on your own."

With that, he grabbed his salad and left the galley in a hurry. Charlie watched him go with confusion. She then turned to Mick who was finishing his sandwich.

"Did I say something wrong?" she asked.

Mick didn't bother to finish his mouthful before he answered:

"Haircut doesn't want to get in the way of your date with the New Girl."

Charlie gritted her teeth. She was getting rapidly tired of people assuming it was a date.

"It's not a date."

Mick shrugged.

"If you say so."

"It's not! What's wrong with you people?! Zari and I hated each other up until last week! Seriously!"

Mick shrugged again.

"So did the Captain and Pantsuit, and now they are making love on the sun..."

Charlie decided to ignore the metaphor which highly confused her, and walked away.

* * *

She'd lost her appetite, and with nothing left to do, Charlie headed for the jumpship. She found Zari checking her latest installation, two elastic ropes with belts at the end, attached to the wall of the jumpship, across from the door. Zari stood up when Charlie walked in.

"Hey, didn't expect you so early."

"Yeah, well I couldn't wait," Charlie replied with obvious annoyance.

Zari brushed aside the shape-shifter's temper.

"Right... We're ready to go if you still want to come."

"What? Why wouldn't I?"

Zari shrugged.

"I don't know. You just don't look very excited."

Charlie crossed her arms and held in a breath. Calm down, Zari has done nothing to you. Yet. Isn't she the reason why you're angry in the first place? No, Charlie, don't go there. Charlie sighed longly and declared:

"I am excited. This is the best part of my bloody day. So let's go."

Zari rolled her eyes but complied. She sat down in the driver's seat while Charlie sat down on the bench. The last time the two of them had been in the jumpship alone, Zari was a cat. She smiled at the thought.

The door to the jumpship closed and they slowly floated away from the Waverider.

"Next stop, 1980!"

* * *

They appeared in the middle of a sunny day, with no indication of when, or where they were. Under them, a massive forest ran over every hills and valley, as far as the eye could see. A concrete road was interspersed here and there, and there was a small lake surrounded by cabins, but there wasn't a single city nearby. In the middle of all this greenery was a massive mountain, majestic, with eternal snow on its summit. However, it looked like its north side was inflated, as if something was pushing against the stone. Smoke was rising out from the top and joining the clouds.

Zari pivoted in her chair and stood up.

"Alright. We have about ten minutes before the eruption."

She picked up one of the belts she'd set up and handed the other to Charlie.

"Put this on."

Charlie picked it up and looked at it suspiciously.

"Why?"

"The eruption is going to create a shock-wave strong enough to uproot all the trees over there. Unless you want to fall of the jumpship when it hits."

Charlie was expecting a smug comment to follow, something like 'not that I would mind', but nothing came. Instead, Zari picked up one of the bag of snack she'd taken from the food fabricator earlier.

"Is it really necessary?" Charlie asked. "It's not like a hole..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Zari opened the door of the jumpship and sat down there, her legs hanging over the edge.

"Well, that makes a whole lot more sense now."

Charlie complied and tied the belt around her waist, before seating down beside Zari. The door-frame of the jumpship was barely big enough to fit the two of them, and they were squished together. Charlie really didn't mind. She looked out the scenery. It was so peaceful, so quiet. An ordinary day in paradise if your idea of paradise was a massive forest.

"So, what should we expect?" Charlie asked as she plunged her hand in Zari's crisps bag and pulled a few out.

Zari pulled her bag away and picked one for Charlie, throwing it at the shape-shifter.

"Seriously? You want to be spoiled? Ten minutes before the real thing?"

Charlie opened her bag and replied:

"I don't really care, you know."

"Then why did you come with me?"

Charlie bit her lip. Why had she come with Zari? It was a good question. Because she wanted to spend time with her. Because Zari wasn't nearly as aggravating as before. Because she felt a bit lighter every time they spoke.

"Because I didn't want you to blow yourself up."

Zari looked offended, and Charlie replied quickly:

"Cause let's face it, you Legends always find a way to mess it up."

"I'm the Legend who messes it up the less! Seriously!"

"I demand proof of that."

"Fine! We'll see who's blown up when we go back to the Waverider!"

Charlie couldn't help but smile. They started out the door once again. Everything was still quiet. The anticipation was building up. Charlie could feel the excitement welling up in her chest. She glanced back at Zari who was staring at the volcano. It felt nice, just the two of them. They could have been at the cinema, or at a concert, or anywhere else, and the feeling would have been the same. Charlie couldn't help but sigh at the thought. But, she'd never been known for her subtlety, and now was not the day this would change.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Is this a date? Cause everyone else's been telling me that it's a date."

Zari shrugged.

"Do you want it to be a date?"

"What kind of stupid question is that? Is it a date or not?"

"No, it's not! People died because of the eruption! Volcanic eruptions are not romantic!"

Charlie would have let out a sigh of relief if she had been relieved. Somehow, she wasn't. In fact, she was disappointed. She felt it in the way her heart tugged. It must have shown on her face because Zari declared:

"Oh, so you wished it had been a date then?"

Charlie decided to ignore her and returned to staring at the volcano, hoping and praying it would explode soon. Beside her, Zari glared at her, then said:

"Alright, fine! This is a date! Happy now?"

"I don't care."

"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that."

Charlie glared back at her. Suddenly, the stillness of nature was broken. A loud rumbling sound pulled both women out of their argument. One by one, cracks appeared on the side of the mountain. Along a single line, clouds of ash were blown out, as if someone had taken off the corks off so many chimneys. The next second, the rumbling turned into a full-on explosion. The top of the mountain crumbled. A massive dark cloud blew out of the top, and, like an avalanche, slid down the side of the mountain. The shock-wave followed. It hit the jumpship at full strength and sent both Zari and Charlie back. They hit the ground of the ship hard, and the door closed off behind them. The ship shook and was pushed away slightly, just a few feet.

Charlie had closed her eyes when the shock-wave had hit, and had held onto Zari, as if trying to protect her. They were now lying on the metal ground of the ship, and Zari was still in her arms. She'd yet to move away.

"Z? Hey, Z? You okay, mate?"

Zari finally opened her eyes and let out a long sigh. However, she didn't try to move away from Charlie.

"That was one hell of a shock-wave..."

"Tell me about it."

Zari finally pushed herself up, one arm supporting herself as she brushed a few strands of hair out of her face.

"I'm fine. You?"

Charlie rolled onto her back and started laughing.

"That was awesome!"

"Yeah, well, tell that to the hundreds of people down there."

Charlie playfully punched Zari's arm.

"You always ruin everything..." she declared with a smile.

Charlie let out a content sigh.

"All and all, I'd say it was a good first date."

Zari smirked.

"So you admit it was a date."

"I mean, you and I, snacks, entertainment. Now, all we need is a kiss."

"Is that your definition of a date?"

"Do you have a better one?"

"Yes. Let me take you on a real first date, then you'll see what a date with me is really like."

Charlie smiled up at Zari.

"Challenge accepted."

She pushed herself up with the intent of kissing Zari, but Zari moved away and stood up. She held out her hand for Charlie to take, and the shape-shifter accepted, though still pouting from Zari's previous fakeout.

"Let's see what the volcano looks like all blown up, shall we?"

Charlie smiled and pushed the door to the jumpship open once again. Dark clouds of smoke had taken over most of the forest. The mountain was encased in them. It was impossible to see the top of the volcano. Among the raising clouds of ash, thunder crackled here and there. It was an apocalyptic vision to be sure. The closest thing Charlie had ever seen to Hell on Earth. It sent shivers down her spine.

"It is something alright," she conceited.

Zari didn't answer. Instead, she pressed a quick kiss on Charlie's cheek then pulled away.

"Aren't you glad you came with me?" she then asked.

Charlie smirked.

"Never been gladder."


End file.
